When using Universal Serial Bus (USB) modems/Wireless Wide Area Network (WWAN) or other modems, a user must typically install both driver software and application software on a host device, e.g., laptop, that is to use the USB modem. This provides a burden to the user and restricts their use of the modem on computers where they neither want, nor are able, to install such software. In addition, the requirement for host computer software adds an additional burden in terms of the cost structure for purchasing USB modem solutions. Finally, host computer software needs to run on multiple operating systems and therefore needs to be modified and compiled for each target operating system. Additionally, because laptop-resident software controls the device and the connection, the “auto connect” feature is slow when coming back from a lowered power state such as hibernate, suspend, or off.
Furthermore, WWAN networks are one of the only places where a device, such as a laptop using the USB modem, is allocated a public Internet Protocol (IP) address, although this is becoming less common especially in Europe. Every other network that a computer typically connects to is a private network with a private IP address. This had led to a weaker security posture for most laptops, as well as to security measures driven by protection via a network address translation (NAT) router rather than security on the laptop/computer itself. Therefore, being given a public IP address is arguably a dangerous practice for devices connecting to WWAN networks.